Union files applications for Transport Service Driver union certification

CUPW has been conducting a national campaign to organize Transport Service Drivers who work for Canada Post since October 2007. Hundreds of Combined Urban Service (CUS) and Highway Service (HS) drivers signed union cards. CUPW filed three national applications for union certification with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).

Our overall campaign goals are to unite all Transport Service Drivers in one national bargaining unit and to negotiate with Canada Post directly for a national collective agreement.

Applications for union certification

As a first step towards our goal, we filed separate national applications for union certification with the CIRB on March 27 for the following groups of workers:

• All drivers who work for Canada Post’s CUS contractors
• All drivers who hold a CUS contract directly with Canada Post
• All drivers who hold a HS contract directly with Canada Post

The union will also file a common employer application for all CUS bargaining units that are already organized by CUPW as soon as the evidence is collected. This common employer application will name Canada Post and the company that holds the delivery contract as a single employer.

The path forward

In the past, we have organized Transport Service Drivers into small bargaining units. Negotiating a separate contract for workers at the hundreds of companies that hold Canada Post transport contracts makes it hard to bargain for substantial changes. That’s why we chose a collective strategy.

We consider our applications before the labour board as a good first step towards a single national Transport Service Driver bargaining unit with Canada Post. But we can’t rely on the legal process alone. The union will use every strategy and every possible opening to push for these workers to be united in a single national bargaining unit.

It may take a while to receive decisions from the CIRB on our applications for union certification.

In the meantime, we have created a framework with which to communicate with our new Sisters and Brothers.

Organizing for a strong union

Transport Service Drivers perform similar work to that of Mail Service Couriers in the urban postal bargaining unit. But Transport Service Drivers have lower wages, fewer benefits and few contractual protections. Our union can help change that.

While organizing workers in the postal sector improves their working conditions, it is also important to improve the working conditions of the current membership.

Having a unionized postal sector reduces the incentive for Canada Post to contract out postal work to low-paid workers. CUPW believes all workers who collect, transport and deliver the mail should be treated with fairness and respect. The greater our collective voices are, the more strength we have in negotiating improvements for everyone.